NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/dcom/modems-part1/8334

Internet Message Format | 1996-08-05 | 3.8 KB

Path: cup.portal.com!Harv
From: [e-mail] (Harv R Laser)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Did you buy a Digicom "Scout 288V34e" recently?
Date: 18 Mar 1996 08:40:04 -0800
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Sender: [e-mail]
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Hi.  This is a rather weird question, so bear with me here..

On Saturday last I bought a "Digicom Scout 288V34e" (external)
modem at Computer City, Torrance, CA. The box was shrinkwrapped,
undamaged, came right off their shelf and appeared to be new
merchandise. (I like to think of myself as a good consumer.. I know that
just about any shop has a shrink-wrap machine and many of them
repack returned goods and stick'em right back on the shelf. This
modem appeared to be brand new - the cable of the AC power supply
was properly wrapped and tied - this is usually a good giveaway
that someone has repacked a returned item, unless they're very
careful about wrapping the cords up again).

Upon getting it home and unpacking the modem, I found that the
modem inside the box does not at all resemble the picture of the
modem on the outside of the box.

The modem on the outside of the box has the typical form factor
of, oh, a book or a disk drive, that is, it's longer than it is
wide. It has a panel of lights on a front face and a white power
switch on the front.

The modem that came out of the box is an entirely different
form factor - it's wider than it is deep, and it has a somewhat
sloping top/front panel where the lights are. Instead of a large
front power switch, it has a small black back-panel power switch.
The modem that cameout of the box says "MR34S Intelligent
FAX/Data modem" on it, but has no mfr's name of any kind on it.

Now the other intersting thing is that the user's manual in the box
has pictures of the modem in it and these pictures DO match the modem
that came out of the box, but do not match the modem picture on
the front of the box. :) Thus, modem matches manual. Neither matches box.

I called Digicom this morning and talked to a rather confused-sounding
gentleman who kept putting me on hold to ask someone else (who he
would not let me speak to directly) and he finally told me that yes
I had the right product, and that they were "redesigning the box
so sometimes the box doesn't match the product inside."

I told him that in two days of use, the modem has performed
satisfactorily, and I just wanted to make sure that I had actually
bought a Digicom modem, because the modem itself has NO company name
anywhere on it, just a mfr's sticker on the bottom indicating FCC
compliance, and a couple of stock codes and a serial number.

He told me not to worry and that I had a Digicom product.

I still think this is kind of strange but I guess I'm satisfied
with the purchase because the modem works fine for me (so far).
I suppose I could take the modem back to Computer City and exchange
it for another brand, based simply on the fact that the modem does
not match the picture of it on the box it came out of.

So this is a long roundabout way of asking this group if any of
you have bought a modem recently in a blue and white outer box
named "Digicom Scout 288v34e" that looked one way on the box, but
the modem inside was an entirely different looking model.
And what you did about it, if anything.

This is kind of like buying a box of Wheaties and opening it up
and having Cheerios pour out.  The Cheerios are fine, nothing wrong
with them, but they're not what you thought you were buying. :)


Thanks,
Harv                                       |  "Do you recognize the
[e-mail]                        |  Bell of Truth when you
http://www.portal.com/~harv                |  hear it ring?"
[e-mail] <--- (until 3/31/96)     |  - Leon Russell